WELL, WHEN YOU POLITICIZE, YOU FORFEIT PUBLIC TRUST AND THERE’S A PRICE: Gun Query Off Limits for Doctors in Florida. And let me be clear: Anyone who denies that pediatricians in particular, and the AMA in general, have a politicized antigun agenda is a big fat liar. People don’t trust the medical profession here because it has an agenda they don’t share, and seeks to leverage its professional power to advance that agenda.
UPDATE: Physician-reader Danielle Emery emails: “Most doctors don’t share the AMA’s agenda, either. Their constituency is comprised mostly of medical students, residents and academicians who have their membership paid for by someone else- which might also explain their leftward leanings. The rest of us find a great deal more benefit in joining the medical societies of our respective specialties. I’m a lifetime member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists but haven’t picked up a copy of JAMA in years- and when I did, it was mostly for the artwork on the cover.”
ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Brant Hadaway writes:
Dr. Marcus gives the game away with the assertion that “[b]ecause the new law directly conflicts with accepted medical practices, some of my pediatrician colleagues have told me privately that they worry that not asking about firearms could put them at risk of a malpractice claim if the patient subsequently dies of or is injured by a gunshot.”
As a practicing attorney in Florida, I find this statement laughable. A doctor has no duty to ask questions about matters that are unrelated to reaching a medical diagnosis and prescribing treatment. Dr. Marcus tries to rig the duty of care issue with the phrase, “accepted medical practices,” but that falls far short of establishing a reasonable standard of care for treating anything other than injuries from a gunshot wound or, arguably, a pistol whipping. I won’t bore you with the causation problems inherent in her argument, which should be obvious.
As you often comment, sheesh.
Instead of viewing this law as an infringement on medical practice, physicians should see it as emblematic of how they’ve fallen in public esteem, and consider doing some self-examination. I don’t think that’s likely to happen, though . . . .